1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tools for managing and monitoring data storage.
2. Background of the Invention
Today's enterprise organizations rely on an increasingly complex data storage infrastructure whose management has emerged as a major area of challenge. An effective set of well-integrated management tools is required to keep operational costs down and get the most out of IT investments. For example, it is not uncommon in many organizations that general storage utilization is 20-30% or less across the storage estate. The range of storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) products offered by multiple vendors has increased the complexity of managing the storage estate. Accordingly, it may be difficult to monitor or evaluate the storage infrastructure utilization in such an environment. This is especially critical for financial organizations, such as large banking institutions.